Let me just say, I love this artist. Kim is another concept artist, his work highly populated by the Video Game series, 'Magna Carta'. His work is incredibly stylized, but in a way that most artists neglect. While the breast of his female characters are impossibly large, their hips and thighs are what really blow his art out of the realm of reality. Anatomically incorrect that they are, his characters are full of movement and flow, their poses anything but boring. And while the anatomy is extremely exaggerated, Kim has an understanding of anatomy that makes the characters look natural enough, with muscles and parts in all the right places. I personally love this exaggeration, I feel Kim is really taking on the role of Illustrator and embracing the use of style that illustration and conception is allowed.
Another thing I love about Kim are his amazing costume designs. These costumes are very complex, and usually impossible or, at the very least, impractical. But these concepts are, after all, only art and digital space, so why not reach out into the bold and strange? Crazy layered shoes, open chested dresses that somehow stay up although no straps or bands hold them in place, weapons with designs and decorations branching off in every direction: Kim really pulls out all the stops and explores his imagination to the fullest, giving the viewer a stimulating piece with many complexities to look at. Unlike in real life, I always find his characters most interesting from the neck down.
Allright, another HTK fan! He was a big influence for me when I first found out about him, and, like you mentioned, the originality of his designs never cease to impress me. I wish he would tighten up his anatomy, though.. it's not just the breasts and thighs that make no sense in some of his pieces, but the overall proportions.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that the anatomy is off about Kim's work as well, but it's the reason I like it. It adds too the extreme poses and the impossible costumes. For some reasons it's more appealing which is important when when all there is a character in an empty space.
ReplyDeleteI actually quite enjoy his work, despite my feminist leanings. His work hearkens back to Mannerist painters in a peculiarly transnational way. He distorts all his figures in such a way as to accentuate and exaggerate their attraction. It's almost grotesque, but the coloring is treated so sensitively, it manages to grasp onto an odd charm that's tough to pinpoint right off the bat.
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